BUCHAREST, Romania, (AFP) – A network of Romanian medics is under investigation over allegations they reused cardiac implants for living patients after they had been extracted from dead bodies, prosecutors said.

One of the doctors was arrested for 30 days on Saturday evening, a statement from prosecutors said.

The Bucharest tribunal ordered the preventive arrest of cardiologist Dan Tesloianu, working in a hospital from the eastern city of Iasi, for abuse of office and bribery.

The prosecutors said that from 2017 until 2022 he implanted 238 medical devices “of unknown origin”, sometimes extracted from dead patients, and illegally reused them thus putting lives at risk.

Tesloianu is suspected of overseeing a network that included at least four other doctors who were providing him with the devices, without prior approval from sick patients or their families.

“A large part of the interventions for implanting cardiac devices were not necessary and were triggered by fictitious diagnosis” or medication that would induce specific symptoms, the statement released Saturday added.

On Friday, Romanian police announced 24 searches in three counties in a case involving “medics who did surgical interventions by violating procedures and the rules for using cardiac implants”. Nine persons were brought in for hearings as a result.

Romania, which joined the European Union in 2007, has seen its public healthcare system plagued by multiple corruption scandals in past years and still spends the least amount on healthcare of all EU countries.